FEATURE : ERP
the business to meet its current requirements and future objectives .”
De Vries advised that customers should be open to a phased approach around the implementation of an ERP solution . “ It is not feasible in terms of time , sound integration , and costs to address all requirements immediately . Prioritise the most important issues and ‘ low hanging fruits ’ with the aim of creating a core platform which will form the foundation for future projects and communicated in a roadmap document . A key consideration for those considering an ERP solution is cost transparency . Buried costs for hardware and hosting in complicated quotes can be a big headache for the owners of the project ,” he pointed out . “ At Seidor Africa we focus on comprehensive and complete offerings that are clear , avoid confusing tech jargon and also refer to the underlying infrastructure needed for a successful ERP system .”
He said by way of example , with cloud implementations , cloud providers need to be reliable , and Seidor prefers to work closely with them . “ Through trial and error , we have carefully chosen the best and most reliable cloud providers who can offer customers a solid underlying infrastructure for their ERP system ,” he said . “ In addition , Seidor Africa has made our partnerships with infrastructure providers equally as important as the relationship with SAP and our clients and this mitigates many potential problems .”
Ramachandran said Tech Mahindra expects to see cloud ERP deployments across MEA continuing to grow in 2022 and beyond , and most customers will start leveraging digital edge technologies such as mobility , real time analytics and AI / Machine Learning , robotic process automation and IoT as part of their deployments . “ By 2023 , ERP data is expected to fuel 30 % of all AI-generated predictive analyses and forecasts in the enterprise ,” he said .
De Vries agreed with Ramachandran on cloud ERP deployments and added that customers in 2022 are more interested in business benefits than the supporting technology . “ What will be most important when evaluating ERP vendors is automation and optimisation , business process automation ( BPA ) and Machine Learning , cloud , and mobility – for flexible deployment and procurement options and the ability to extend the user base beyond traditional back-office users ,” he said . “ In addition , extensibility and integration – the ability to extend functionality without bespoke development effort as well as integration capabilities with other systems and Internet of Things ( IoT ) – whether the option exists to include data generated by smart assets and devices into the core ERP . To sum up , customers will be looking for ERP solutions with rapid return on investment , that are scalable , dependable , and already best of breed . This I believe is what will be most sought in 2022 .” p
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